PART 15
1720 Zulu
Bethesda Naval Hospital
Bethesda, Maryland.
"You son of a bitch!" Harm said, moving swiftly across the room and pining Clayton Webb up against a wall. "You did this to her!"
"I know you want to knock me out, Rabb. . . but your CO saved you the trouble." Webb said, looking at Harm with a fearful expression.
Reluctantly, Harm loosened his grip and saw that Webb had quite a shiner. Harm needed to thank the Admiral on that point.
"I need to talk to her. . ." Clay glared over at Harm and tore his arm away from his grasp. "Alone."
Harm looked at Mac who nodded that it was alright. "I'll be outside."
It took a few moments before Clay had the courage. But, once he did, he walked over to the bed and frowned at Mac's injuries. "You okay, Sarah?"
"Fabulous, now explain." She said, not wavering under his scrutiny. Instead, she brought her arms across her chest and glared at him.
Clay nodded and took a breath. "I didn't mean to get you into so much trouble. And you would have been fine you know? But you had to go on and escape."
"Fine?" Mac chuckled and winced slightly when the action hurt her sore body. "Fine? They were drugging me, Webb!"
Clay shrugged. "Okay, well maybe not fine, but safe. . . you were safe there until I figured things out."
"How are you still alive? I saw . . .You. . . I shot you." Her memory was sketchy but she remembered shooting and remembered seeing a body, his body.
Clay shook his head. "Blanks, you didn't shoot anyone."
"Come again?" As if she wasn't confused before, now her head was really doing cart wheels.
"I needed them to believe I was dead. . . I also needed to get you the hell out of there and that was the only way." He said it as if it were common knowledge to everyone. "I gave you a light drug with dinner. Put blanks in your gun and made you chase me. . . When you pay off members of a government like theirs, you can get away with anything."
Mac nodded. "I see . . . so you set me up?"
"I wouldn't call it setting you up, but yes. . . I set you up."
"And that night. . . in my apartment?" Mac was referring to the night when Harm had walked in on her and Clay. A few minutes that she wished she would remove from her life altogether.
"When Rabb walked in?" Webb said in disgust. "I was. . . well." Sighing, he walked over to her and took one of her hands. "Sarah, I care for you. . . a lot and I thought. . . well maybe you'd changed your mind about. . .us."
"There is no us." She said quickly before removing her hands from his. "There will never be, I thought I made that clear?"
He maintained close to her, determined to make her see that he did care for her. "You did kiss me. . . we probably would have done something more."
"I was alone and scared for Harm. . . Because of what could've happened to him had he not ejected from the Tomcat. . ." Mac took a deep breath and bore an angry gaze at the spook before her. If looks could kill, he'd been vaporized the moment he'd walked into the room. ". . . you used that. . . you used my vulnerability to try to get me in bed. . ."
"And I am sorry." Clay said, trying to defend himself. It was fruitless, he knew that. Yet, he had to try.
"I don't think you are. . . Else you wouldn't have taken me with you. . . You did it to take me away from Harm, didn't you?" Mac glared at Clayton. The anger that she felt for him began from the moment he stepped into the room and only increased with each second. Had she not sustained injuries, she would have attacked him with everything that she had.
He raised his hands, attempting to block her verbal assault. But, he couldn't, he knew that Mac was too intuitive for him to manipulate her again. "Sarah. . I"
"Didn't you!?" She yelled at him. Mac's body ached more as the moments ticked by. She couldn't figure why, every time something between her and Harm was about to happen, someone had to ruin it all.
"Yes. . . you don't deserve a guy like that!" Clay said, turning to the side slightly and motioning towards the door.
"It's for me to decide. . ." Angrily, she pointed a finger at him. Her voice shook with the anger that was raging inside of her. How could she have cared for a man like this? Harm, at least, would stand back and allow for things between her and other men to happen. What Clay was doing was down right dirty.
That was when he knew he was defeated. 'The lesser man.' As he liked to call Harm, had won. "Look everything is fine now. . . You're being cleared of everything."
Mac sighed. She couldn't wait to rid her life of Clayton Webb. What had possessed her to even try and date him, she didn't know. "And the diamonds?"
"Destroyed, Van Dyne is in our custody." Not knowing what to do with his hands, he shoved them deep into his pockets and took a step away from the Marine.
Mac nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. "I guess this is where I say: Goodbye Clay."
"You'll see me again, Sarah."
"Maybe, maybe not. . . not if I can help it." She said and then turned to look out the window.
Clay stood the for a moment just watching Mac. He knew that he would fail with her from the very beginning. He knew that he couldn't expect her feelings to be reciprocated when she was still in love with Harm. She'd used him to get information about Harm's CIA adventure. He'd used her for company and the prospect of something more that never came. He'd used her on a mission and nearly got her killed, again.
Sighing, he walked outside to find Harm pacing in front of her hospital room door.
"You did a good job protecting her again, Harm." Clay said, walking in front of Harm's track.
"You seduce her, sleep with her. You put her in danger, now put her out of your life, Clay." Harm said, glaring angrily at the agent.
"See, that is where you are all wrong, Rabb. . . I didn't sleep with her." Again, Clay put his hands deep in his pockets and leaned against the frame of the door.
Harm stood there for a moment. The wind was completely knocked out of him and for the first time in ages, he felt like a fool. "What?"
Clay looked up at Harm and grinned. It was as if he knew exactly what the other man was thinking. "I said I never slept with her. . .and it wasn't for lack of trying. . .She didn't want me. . ."
"But you used her anyway." Harm fought the need to grab the agent and slam him to the floor. He wanted to rip him to shreds for putting Mac's life in danger again.
"And she used me. . . to find out how you were doing within the CIA. . . After you returned, it was over. . ." Clay shrugged and brought his arms across his chest. "The last time I was with her was during the holidays, which wasn't even for more than a couple of hours. . . and yet again, nothing happened between us."
Harm shook his head. Slowly he brought himself against the wall. He'd been wrong about Mac. He'd been wrong about what he saw at her apartment. She'd never been with Clay. He felt so horrible for not believing her until now. Harm buried his face in his hands. "God. .."
"Not even he can help you out, you know that? You've hurt her more than you would ever know." With new found strength and probably the site of Harm's slumped figure, Clay moved closer to Harm and jabbed at his chest.
"And she hurt me right back." Harm said, peaking out through this fingers.
"All's fair in love and war, Harm. . ." Clay leaned against the wall next to Harm and studied him for a few moments. "What are you willing to do to keep her?"
Harm looked at the other man and gave him a half smile. It would always come out to proof. Unfortunately, he had to go away and during that time he made a silent oath to figure out exactly what he wanted from Mac.
"Look, I have to get going. . .Van Dyne is being brought back to the States today and I can't wait to see the look on his face when he finds out I am alive. . . . Take care of her, Rabb." Clay extended his hand out.
Harm looked at him for a moment and then shook the other man's hand. "I will."
He nodded and started to make his way out of the hospital. Before he got too far, Clay turned and glared at Harm. "For the record. . . I know I don't deserve Sarah. . . for that matter, neither do you."
Harm knew that Clay was right. He knew that he needed to view things with Mac in a different light. Taking a deep breath, he walked back into the room and up to her bed. "Hey. . . you alright?"
Mac remained looking of the window and didn't turn to face him. "Yea. . . just sad."
Harm nodded and just stood there for a moment, watching her. Throughout the years, she only looked more beautiful. Even now, injured, without any sort of make up and her hair a mess, she was beautiful. He hated that he was leaving, but there was nothing he could do.
Harm reached over and took her hand. He was relieved when she didn't pull away. "I have to get going, Mac."
Nodding, she turned her head over and looked at him. "When you get back. . . Come to me."
"I will." He promised her and leaned down to kiss her goodbye. The kiss didn't linger and it would have been sweet if it didn't have so much pain behind it. He waited for a moment, hoping for her to tell him what he meant to her. That she loved him. But, she didn't. Mustering the last of his strength, Harm rose to his full height and left the room.
The moment that he stepped outside, Mac let out the sob that she was trying to stop. She didn't know what was going on with her. He'd told her that he loved her once, but he didn't repeat it again. That alone made her wonder what his return would hold. Would he still love her? Was their moment in the woods just that, a moment? Their government town had a way of destroying everything beautiful and romantic and turning it upside down. Only deceit and power flourished in such town. How could love survive?
Still, she had to hope. Life meant nothing if there wasn't hope. "Come back to me, Flyboy. . . Please." She said in a broken voice as she closed her eyes and willed the tears to fall. "I love you." And she really did love him. She always would. Now all she had to do was wait for her sailor to come home.